late night moonie pies

Sometimes in life, you just have to be impuslive and spontaneous. Although I have been quite busy these days, I've had quite a craving to make some raw desserts. And so it is that I embarked on Heathy Pace's great Moonpie Challenge on the final day of the contest! I really didn't want to miss out on all the moonie pie fun, so upon Heather's advice that I had "one more day, girlie", I thought I must, must, must get in on the moonpie action. So I ordered her Mooniepie recipe e-book (along with her impressive Just Desserts, both are a great addition to any raw kitchie) from Sweetly Raw, and got busy!

What a whirlwind it was in my sunny raw kitchie today, full of food processing, and conceptualizing many different flavor combinations (one of my favorite things to do on any given day). For my versions of the sumptuous dessert, I came up with three fantastic moonie pie flavours: 

orange creamsicle sunshine
 

sweet vanilla chai
 

pineapple surprise

Originally, I had wanted to make a pomegranate-inspired moonpie, but much to my chagrin, I could not find any fresh pomegranates on such short notice. I'd also been dreaming of an apricot caramel, date caramel, or mango-coconut moonpie, but these required too many ingredient changes from the contest guidelines.

Anyhow, the following flavors were so much fun and really complimented Heather's absolutely fabulous recipe. I don't know how this girl does it, but she really knows her raw desserts. Everything about the recipe was 'spot on', as we Brits say. I was very impressed with the vanilla cream recipe, as it evolved into a wonderfully thick, rich, and creamy texture once setting in the fridge for a few hours. There are so many possibilities with this recipe, and I opted to make some mini, almost bite size moonpies so I could share the mooniepie goodness with my friends and family post-contest.

sweet vanilla chai moonie 

accompanied by a slice of vanilla bean and star anise

Now, onto my slight modifications of the original recipe: for the orange creamsicle sunshine, I added some freshly squeezed organic orange juice to the vanilla cream filling, and this combination was pure choccie-orange-vanilla heaven! 

With the sweet vanilla chai, I added a sprinkling of a vanilla chai sugar blend that I'd used in some previous recipes around Christmastime. I'm a real fan of vanilla chai spices and tea, so this was an inevitable flavor choice. This combination has a bit of a kick, which I really enjoyed; both sweet and spicy! 

Lastly, with the pineapple surprise, I added some fresh, crushed pineapple from the best (I'm not kidding) and juiciest pineapple I have stumbled upon in eons.  

All in all, I love each flavour, although the orange creamsicle sunshine brought back childhood memories of my affinity for SAD orange creamsicles from the local Avondale convenience store. As a wee girl, I remember going with my wonderful Aunt on many a sunny afternoon to purchase an orange creamsicle. Also, the sweet vanilla chai moonies were so refreshing, and would work well for an afternoon raw choccie dessert/tea break on any day of the week. YUM!

 close up of the sweet vanilla chai moonie

 

With all of the moonies, I opted to use coconut oil for the dark chocolate coating, rather than cacao butter (as I didn't have any on hand).  Also, I didn't use any agave powder in the vanilla filling, as there was none to be found in my neck of the woods. 

Overall, I'm quite pleased with how the moonie pies turned out, as it was my first time making such a recipe. Although I wish the photos/my camera could have captured the flavours a bit more, and also that I had allowed myself more time to tend to the moonies, I am so happy that I decided to venture on a late night moonie pie endeavour.  My man was so encouraging, and cheered me on from the 'sidelines' (other room), while I was busy, busy for a few hours whipping up delicious cakes, of which he tried and exclaimed, "delicious"! It is always nice to have a resident taste tester in the wings, especially on a last minute, Saturday evening kitchie frenzy.

I would write more, but I must get in my post to Heather before the midnight deadline! Now to clean up the maelstrom that is my kitchen :) Note to Heather: Once these moonies chill in the freezer a wee bit more, I can take better piccies :) I also need some natural sunlight with my camera!

On a final note, I did a little research about the history of the moonpie, and learned that the original moonpie was conceptualized in 1917 and was trademarked and registered in 1919 by a Mr. Earl Mitchell Sr, a bakery salesman. One day, he visited a company store that catered to coal miners, the latter of who were looking for a treat that was solid and filling for those long hours of work.  Mr. Mitchell inquired as to how big this dessert should be, and an anonymous miner held out his hands to the moon in the sky, encircling the orb with his hands in a circular fashion and exclaimed, "that big"! (moonpie.com).
 

Happy Moonie Pie making everyone. A  big thanks to Heather for offering this great contest! Wonderful idea girlie :)

(PS...how many times can you say mooniepie in one blog post?! Many!)